Overview
- On Tuesday evening, the House justice committee voted to add the Bloc Québécois amendment to Bill C-9, with Liberal MPs in support.
- The amendment would repeal the Criminal Code clause that treats good-faith religious opinions or citations of religious texts as a shield in hate-speech cases.
- The Bloc had conditioned its support for the anti-hate bill on removing the exemption, saying it has been used to cover homophobia, racial abuse and antisemitism.
- Conservatives and several faith organizations warn the change could chill religious expression, while Justice Minister Sean Fraser says it will not criminalize faith and calls the exemption redundant.
- Before becoming law, the bill must pass third reading in the House and then the Senate, and it also creates new offences for promoting hatred using specified hate or terrorism symbols, hate-motivated crimes, and intimidation outside places of worship.